Advancing our understanding of the neurophysiology involved in recovery from unconscious states.

Neuroanesthesia Lab Alumni

CLASS OF 2016

Research Associate

Vincent Ciavatta, PhD is a broadly trained molecular biologist who joined the Neuroanesthesia Lab in 2013 in conjunction with the Tyor Lab at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. His primary project in the lab was to investigate the effects of antiretroviral drugs on neuron form and viability using a rat primary cortical neuron cell culture system. In addition, Dr. Ciavatta investigated GABA receptor subunit expression dynamics in response to a variety of ligands and effectors. Dr. Ciavatta received his Masters and PhD from the Institute of Paper Science and Technology at Georgia Tech.

Postdoctoral Fellow

September Hesse, PhD worked primarily on data analysis since becoming a member of the Neuroanesthesia Lab in late 2014. She is well versed at using MATLAB to process large data sets both for clinical and preclinical projects, and built upon prior experience with SAS and Stata as well. She is continuing her research in conjunction with collaborators of the Neuroanesthesia Lab located at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Dr. Hesse received her PhD from Morehouse School of Medicine in 2013, following a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from MIT.

Medical Student

Victoria García Melanson worked in collaboration with Maria Alvarado, PhD, for a project extensively studying the wake patterns of macaques given ketamine or isoflurane anesthesia. She completed this effort throughout Summer of 2015 and into 2016, culminating in receiving her MD from Emory University. She is continuing her medical practice as a resident physician at Emory.

Rotation Graduate Students

Lindsey Shapiro did a rotation in the Neuroanesthesia Lab as part of Emory’s GDBBS Neuroscience program in late 2015 through early 2016. Her work established an activity behavioral assay to be used in GABA receptor knockout mouse models. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of New Hampshire.

Sean Doyle joined the lab for his MD/PhD program rotation in early 2016. His work helped to develop, and gather preliminary data from, an in vivo behavioral model for ARV-associated neurotoxicity. Prior to Emory University’s MD/PhD program, Sean received his undergraduate degree from UNC Chapel Hill and worked as a research specialist at UNC Cystic Fibrosis/Pulmonary Research and Treatment Center.

Yaseen Jamal rotated in the Neuroanesthesia Lab as part of Emory University’s MD/PhD program in the Spring of 2016. He helped to develop an in vivo model for the pharmacological effects of anesthesia and anesthetic adjuvants with respect to extra-synaptic GABA receptors. He is continuing his studies in the laboratory of Krish Sathian, MD, PhD.

Undergraduate Student

Nicholas Taylor was an undergraduate at Emory University working with the Neuroanesthesia Lab starting in 2014. Nick’s main function was to perform chart reviews for the clinical emergence project, as well as performing and analyzing data from various memory-based behavioral assays on rodents. He graduated in Spring 2016.